In Flux

So my Spring Break starts next week and I'm still not sure where i wil be. I asked Dave over two months ago to let me know the plans for the next two weeks so i can split up my Spring break to match his travels. I originally was going to go on a GIM trip through Kellogg to either South Africa or Russia, but I decided I would rather spend the break with family and Dave. Well, we decided that he would probably be travelling my first week of Spring Break and the second week I would visit him. SO i talked to my parents and booked a family trip to the Bahamas over the first weekend and then i was going to be in Minnesota from the Monday night- Sunday after. Well now Dave is going to Australia and due to poor planning they have to leave on Friday. So I am still not sure if it is worth going ot Minnesota for Monday night- Friday afternoon, especialy since everyone will be working so I would be going there for a few nights. A friend is going to Boston and staying in a condo and has said i could go with him for the week. I have never been to Boston. I might do that instead. Although I already made plans with work people for the week I was supposed to be in Minnesota, so I just don't know. So frustrating, I hate not knowing my plans ahead of tim e(as in two weeks before). Well I guess I remember now why I left G-mills R&D. I hated the fact that i never knew where i would be. So many thoughts going through my mind right now about everything and i have two finals to worry about so i guess i should concentrate on that. Finals first, Bahamas next, then i will figure out plans!

Back in the saddle again

Oh, how I love business school. After a few weekends of being out of town, sick or busy i finally went out for a night. And how much fun it was. The night started at Thai Sookdee with dinner with friends. Good food and fun, what else could a person ask for? Then we moved the Nevins, the Kellogg bar, and had drinks and good conversations. After a few Malibu and Diets (my new drink), a round of Irish Car Bombs (I actually did it before it curdled) a round of some other shot(if only I knew what is what, maybe soco and lime) and of course lots of Miller Lite. Hopefully the "Liquor before beer you're in the clear" line is true. I hadn't hung out with my Kellogg friends for a while and they could tell I was in a bad mood and needed a night out. Of course no night is complete without a trip to the fine establishment known as the Keg and a nightcap at the BK Lounge (also known as Burger King). A fun time was had by all and now I think it is time to go to bed. Ah, Kellogg.

In Minnesota

So I did make it to Minneapolis yesterday morning. When United cancelled my flight they booked me on a 9 AM flight on Friday. Dave's surgery was at 11 AM the next day so i wanted to get here earlier than the 9AM flight would get me here. Dave refused to let me take megabus the night before, so instead i got to the airport at 6AM in hopes of catching an earlier flight. In the end, all the other flights were booked, so i took the 9AM and then took a cab to the hospital to get there right as Dave went into surgery.
He is back home now and doing okay. For those who didn't know, he had a surgery to fix a hernia. He is still in a lot of pain and i am so happy his mom came because taking care of him is a two person job. I might end up skipping classes on Monday and Tuesday so i can stay here through Wednesday (no class on Wednesday) night. We will see. I have to be back by Thursday for the last day of classes and since i have a final on Saturday, a Bargaining Games paper due Thursday, a marketing final case write up due by Sunday. Yes i know, you wish you could be me :-)
Anyway, thanks for all the concern about Dave, he should be doing better soon, once the pain subsides!

Weather Delays!!!

Sometimes I wonder... why am i chosing to live in MInneapolis again? This is one of those times. Aparently Minneapolis is getting bombarded with snow which means that my flight that was supposed to leave tonight was delayed until tomorrow. So i will be getting to Minneapolis right after Dave goes into surgery, oh well...
Today was a super busy day. I started off the day at 730 AM working out. Then I went to my 10AM Bargaining games class where we had the final day of our Collective Bargaining Negotiation. It ended up going okay, our group reached an agreement, which is better than a lot of the other groups. And i think we reached an agreement that is favorable to us, also good. But that negotiation went from 10 AM- 1:30, so it was super long and super intense. I have realized that i have a lot to learn about negotiating. I think I get too emotional and take things personally. Luckily we had someone in our group who was a great cheif negotiator, and great at keeping their calm. If i was chief negotiator i don't know that we would have made an agreement.
After my negotiation, i went straight to my Microecon class. I am actually enjoying that class, it is more numbers based so it make more sense to me. We are discussing game theory right now which is really interesting.
After MECN I had to go straight to my Factory Physics exam. I am so happy I never again have to take a class with Physics in the name. What was I thinking? The exam was okay, there was only one difficult problem. I spent 30 mins total on the first 5 problems and 1.5 hours on the last one. It took me a while to get it, but the answer suddenly clicked and I was good to go.
I met up with a friend at Flat Top afterwards and it was sooo good. I wish my flight wasn't cancelled because i would be in Minneapolis right now.
Sorry for the boring post, i will be more interesting later. And for those of you who I owe a phone call to, I am sorry, I will call you soon, things are just so busy with this quarter almost over!

A fun weekend

This weekend was Charity Auction Ball. So Dave came in from Minneapolis and we got dressed up and went to the River East Art Center in Chicago. There were plenty of things to bid on, from a three week trip to Africa (went for $8500) to a serenade from an opera singer (someone in my section) to a night out with all the MMM girls (so i guess i was being auctioned off) and plenty more. The night out with the MMM girls went for over $150, which was pretty cool. I guess the MMM guys all chipped in, which was nice of them.
I ended up bidding on a Crepe making session and some private dance classes. I am excited for those. I don't know if i won the Crepe session but i know i won the dance classes.
Of course, I forgot a camera so these are the only pictures i have.

Things are super busy right now with finals coming up (yikes in two weeks!) and lots of travel. I will be in Minneapolis this weekend for Dave's surgery then again the week of March 19th. I will be going to Michigan the week before, March 12. Fun places to spend my spring break.

Anyway, here are the two best pictures i have so far... sorry the best i have to offer for now.

Ecolab

So, to followup on my last few posts:
I am pretty sure I will take the Ecolab offer, especially since G-Mills is not an option. I will be in Minnesota this weekend visiting Ecolab, and hope to see everyone. So happy i am done with interviews!! Tomorrow i party, although i will remember my previous lessons about the folly of mixing Jager with other drinks...

Probably no General in the Future

I think i screwed up my interview pretty badly. They said we would hear back in a week, i guess we will see. Ironically enough, my Hershey interview that i didn't prepare for or care about how i did on went pretty well. I think I overprepared for the general and was just psyched myself out. Go figure.

SUCCESS!!

Well I will be in Minnesota this summer for sure, just not for sure doing what yet. I got the Ecolab offer! And since Ecolab was one of my top 2 choices I am really happy. Now I just need to get prepared for General Mills tomorrow. If i get lucky enough to get that one I will have a tough decision.

Can you get the chicken without the egg?

So far i have had 5 interviews and 5 rejections. I know i blew my Kellogg's interview (couldn't fake interest when i know G-Mills is a far better option and had really bad examples), and SC Johnson (had to miss dinner the night before due to ilness), but the other three have basically said i don't have the right experience. Well, no shit, if i had worked in marketing before, why would i be at buisiness school? If i wanted to do exactly what I was doing before why would I spend ridiculous amounts of money to get a degree?
Ecolab is tomorrow, and Hersheys and General Mills on Wednesday. Right now I am preparing my stories and then going to eventually make a grocery/ C-store trip to see new products. I know, you wish you could be me ;-). I will either be much happier or sadder in a few days, lets hope for the first.

Lots of nervous energy

There is a lot of nervous energy around campus these days with recruiting season and all. Its funny, its the opposite of how thigns started. Earlier in the quarter and all of last quarter, the I-bankers were going crazy and now they are all really happy or really sad since their interviews are done. I have had three interviews so far and two dings (the Kellogg word for rejection) but I expected those since i didn't really have any passion about the jobs. I have two more interviews tomorrow, but my real interview is in a week with General Mills. I am trying not to be nervous about it but it is hard, there is so much riding on this interview. On top of it all, I have a midterm tomorrow, two cases due on Monday, a homework asignment due on Monday, and 8 other interviews to go still. Plus I am going home this weekend to see the parents and my sister, and next for a wedding. I will be so happy in a few weeks when this is all over. I anticipate a BIG party in the future once this is all done.

It's funny how things work out

So I just got done reading about how Pfizer is closing its research center in Ann Arbor. I have friends who work there so this is a big blow to them, I will have to call them and see how they are doing. But, it brings up an interesting point for me. I remember when Dave and I were looking for jobs leaving college. Pfizer Ann Arbor was our #1 choice, it was where we wanted to be for sure. It would have let us be in Ann Arbor and close to our families. But at the time Pfizer Ann Arbor wasn't hiring at the time. So we went to General Mills, which was the company we wanted to work at anyway, just not the ideal location.
Well over two years later, Minneapolis now feel like home. We have great friends there, and we both love General Mills as a company. If we had gotten the Pfizer offer we would have both been out of a job today, or else moving somewhere else, assuming we made it through a few rounds of layoffs in the past two years, so I guess everything worked out for us.
I guess its just something to keep in perspective as interviews and recruiting starts again, things will work out in ways that might not seem optimal now, but will probably be for the best.

Going into hibernation

So the big season begins this week. The season everyone waits for in fear and anticipation. Recruiting season. This week is the first week of interviews. Suprisingly, even with no closed list interviews, i have bid on quite a few. I have 6 so far in the next two weeks. We find out bidding results for the next round on Wednesday, but I have bid for 10 more companies... gotta hedge those bets, i have to get at least one out of 16 positions I am interviewing for. Unfortunately General Mills doesn't come to town until February 6 so I will be busy until then. I have never looked foward to a day so much. In three weeks all the interviews should be done and i should know my summer fate. I can't wait for it to be over. I will probably not be posting too much as every free moment will be spent looking up financial statements and products of all the fine companies i am interviewing for. I will try to keep you updated.

Back in the swing of things

So the new rejection count from companies :14. My goal is to have the highest count by the time recruiting season is over, everyone has to have goals.

On the up side I took my first dance class of the year. It was an adult Jazz class, it was awesome! I am so happy to be taking dance again. Tomorrow I tutor for the first time in a while and pick a venue for my charity casino night that I am planning. Kind of scary, planning one of the six big Kellogg events.

I think I took my finance class too seriously. Yesterday when discussing whether one of my friends should get back together with a boyfriend I told her she needed to take into account the NPV of current good feelings versus future bad ones, and the opportunity cost of losing out on the chance of being with someone else. And then she made fun of me... I don't understand why ;-)

Nothing more exciting going on. I will be in Minnesota this weekend, call me if you are free!

Sometimes things are more difficult than expected...

So, when you read books about possible jobs for an MBA, most of them say marketing is one of the least competitive. What the fail to tell you is that when you go to one of the top marketing schools in the country, it becomes a little more competitive. I seriously think that the marketing recruiting process is more competitive than the I-banking or consulting ones, and that should not happen. And I have realized I am just not cutthroat enough to do it. Now don't get me wrong, I have a competitive streak in me (ask anyone who has played board games or poker with me), but I just hate backstabbing, and that is what a lot of this whole recruiting thing is. I also hate playing the stupid games that we need to play to get a job. You go to a company presentation, make sure to put your name on a list, then at the end stand in a circle around the recruiter and compete with your fellow students to get a word in edgewise. So not my thing. I will be so happy in a month and a half when it is all done.

So far out of the 15 resumes I dropped, i am on 2 waitlists. I have three dinner offers with companies in round B, so hopefully i will get on more interview lists. I told myself I wouldn't let the recruiting season get to me but it is hard. I am just happy most of my friends aren't going out for marketing so it is so great that i have someone to talk to who I am not competing with.

This weekend so far has been nice. After a long Thursday night (I learned the important lesson that wine and liquor to not mix), I took last night easy. Tonight I am making dinner at a friend's place, some things never change, then going out to celebrate another friend's birthday. Then I also get to work really hard on more resume/cover letters and start reading for the classes I am already behind on. Although my classes so far are mostly interesting (except for factory physics 2) so I am looking forward to the quarter.

The dance studio here doesn't open up until Monday and I have been anxious to start those classes. I haven't done a dance class for over a month and I really miss it, i can't wait to get back into things.

Alright, now I am just stalling on doing all the things i need to do . No more random thoughts, time to work. I will be in Minneapolis next weekend, should be fun!

Back at school

Beer+ Wine +Jager + Malibu= bad idea.

Workin' 9-5...

Well school had started up again. I had a good Christmas and New years. I spent a lot of time hanging out with family and friends. I got to see almost everyone I wanted to, which was great. But now I feel like I need another vacation to recover, things were so busy.
My super cool sister (who reads this blog ;-) ) gave me her car, so I now have a car in Evanston, which is awesome. No more excuses for eating out all the time anymore now that i can go to the grocery store whenever i want.
I got into Evanston yesterday and then went out to a dinner with the other Turkeys (my section). It was awesome to see everyone, i really missed my b-school friends. Today was the first day of classes, a makeup day for the Monday we missed (usually there are no Wednesday classes). I was really happy to see my friends again in class, although i missed being home with Dave too. I have some really cool classes this quarter. My bargaining games class will be my favorite I think. I actually think MicroEcon will be interesting and I am really excited to take derivatives next semester (yes I am a dork).
It was a fun but a tough holiday, I think I need to get back into things and hopefully get a job. I find out about first round interviews today, i am a little scared, the news hasn't been good so far. But the only companies I really care about in this round are 3M and Kellogg, and they haven't sent out interview invites yet.
Well I have to go workout to keep up with my New Years resolution to be healthy again. I am hoping to workout twice a day and start back on my old healthy diet I had before I started working at G-Mills. We will see how those goals go, they are a little high, especially for recruiting season. But life is all about priorities i guess and it is always busy, so no better time to stat than now,

A fun weekend in Minnesota

So I have arrived back to the state of 10,000 lakes. I have had a fun time being back so far. I played volleyball on Wednesday (Go Bacos!), played poker on Thursday (realized I can no longer play poker), went to dinner at Manny's on Friday (with my old boss) and then on Saturday Dave and I threw a party. It was definitely a fun time. We had lasagna for dinner and then played some Cranium and poker. Some others played a super long game of darts. I tried and tried to get Katie to dance with me but she wouldn't. But overall, it was a fun night.
On Sunday we spent most of the day cleaning and then went to Seth's concert. The Plymouth Concert Band was awesome, i was so impressed. Probably one of the best bands I have heard play. Then Seth, Ed, Dave and i went to sushi in uptown. The sushi was phenomenal as well. Lots of good food this weekend between Manny's and sushi.
Today I went back to General Mills to talk to a few people about an internship, I think i have a pretty good shot, I just need to wow them with my marketing expertise (well, first I need to get marketing expertise). I also made a roast for Dave and did more company research and reading on marketing and branding. I know, sounds exciting.
Tomorrow I hit the outlet mall and talk to Mattel!
It is weird, I never thought I would miss classes but I do. Although I have had a blast in Minnesota, and I am loving seeing my Minnesota friends, I also miss my Kellogg friends. It is weird not seeing the people I have seen every day for the past 10 weeks for a month. I realized I am missing seeing some of them in class, or having the random Kellogg discussion or the random Tuesday night at the Keg or Nevins. I got my grades back and I did ok. I didn't do as well as I would've liked in Finance but other than that I did as expected. I guess considering the class was full of investment bankers whose grades actually mattered I did okay. No marketing company will ever ask me about my grade. It is funny, I did best in the classes I didn't study for and worst in the classes I spent the most time on. Which means i have a new strategy for next semester- no more studying.
Of course how could I finish a post without giving a shoutout to my super cool sister Ayesha and her super cool friend Liz ;-)

Derivatives, Long Run industry Structure, and Network Extermalities

Just a few of the fun things i got to spend this weekend learning about. It is amazing to me how one can learn 10 weeks worth of classes over one weekend. I have strategy tomorrow at noon, and i think i will do okay on that, that is my one B class for the semester. Then I have Finance on Tuesday- I really want to do well in that class since I plan to have finance as a major and Accounting on Wednesday, which I haven't started studying for yet. The weekend was spent on Strategy and Finance.

On a different note, it seems like my Wolverines were robbed. I know there are lots of opinions out there on how interesting a rematch would've been, but I was looking forward to the prospect. It would have been an interesting game, to see the two teams go at it again but on neutral turf. So sad that instead an inferior Florida team will get to play in the national championship (although I know there are also mixed opinions on the inferiority of the Florida team). Which bring on an even bigger predicament... now I have to root for Ohio State- how wrong is that? The Michigan/ USC game should be interesting. While I think Michigan is a better team, they don't necessarily have the best record in bowl games as of late. Plus, USC is essentially playing at home in the Rose Bowl. Well hopefully Michigan blows out USC, and (I never thought I would say this) Ohio State blows out Florida. Go Big Ten! Go Blue!

A follow-up

Interesting, as I was going through my e-mail I found this article from the Wall Street Journal (something I need to start reading as recruiting season nears). This one passage was very interesting to me. Don't know what I think about it. I am sure for some women the rise to top is worth missing their kids events, but don't know if that would ever be worth it for me. Just something I found interesting and appropriate at the time.

"The women acknowledged having to work long hours, suffering jet lag from constant travel and having to meet multiple demands on their time. And they listed their sacrifices. Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa, president of U.S. Trust, said she has missed many of her three kids' school events and several wedding anniversaries.

BUT ALL THE panelists concluded that their achievements ultimately were worth the tradeoffs. After all, plenty of women toil at much lower-level jobs and work just as hard, but don't get the big rewards of their high-placed counterparts -- from substantial compensation to the chance to make decisions instead of just following them."

One down, 3 + to go...

Wow, the next week is so busy. I will be so happy when it is next Wednesday.

I have three case writeups due on Thursday, and an exam next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Right after my exam on Wednesday, I hop in a cab and on an airplane to Minnesota. So crazy. To make matters even worse, Dave gave me a cold.

Well, I do have one final out of the way. I completed by Factory Physics final and got a 99! I finally have proved to myself I am not buisiness school stupid. Now I just need to finish accounting, finance and strategy. No big deal ;-)

On top of all of this I have a lot of tough decisions to make. I need to decide what to do for this summer, which will impact what I do after school. It is so weird, and somewhat scarry. I have so many options open to me. I can make all the money in the world, I can have the "perfect job", but I still don't know for sure what I really want. It is a really interesting question.

About half the people here are going for careers in investment banking or consulting, jobs that start in the mid- six figure range, but involve 90+ hours of work/ week. I think I would love those jobs but I would hate the lifestyle. Or else I could do something like cooporate finance. I job a little less fast paced, but still lucrative. I think I would be good at it, but I don't know if it would get me excited going in to work every day. Same with a job in operations. I think I would be good at it but I don't want to be travelling all the time. And there are the many general management jobs out there, or leadership development programs. I know long term I want to manage people and work my way up an organization, so these seem like a good idea. But then again, I keep on getting pulled back to General Mills, a company I love. Which brings us to marketing. I don't know that I would be good at marketing, it doesn't really speak to my strengths. However, to be in the position of strength at the company I love, I need to be in marketing. And it gives me the lifestyle I want.

And then that brings us to this summer. General Mills is not the best place for me to go to this summer, I need another company on my resume. But the best marketing firms are not in Minneapolis, besides General Mills of course. All the good opporunities are elsewhere, be them Cincinnati, California, or Chicago. But I think I want to be in Minneapolis long term. Do you go where the job is best or where you really want to be? Quite honestly, it sucks being somewhere without the people you love. And then, do I really want to hurt my career for someone who won't commit to me, even if I love him?

I guess it is all about whats important to you. THat is why I really admire my parents. They are both doctors and they have both found a career they love. They spend ridiculous hours at work, but I don't think they would have it any other way. When my sister and I were younger and at home, we never felt neglected. I guess they found what was important to them, found a career they loved and one that let them live their lives in and out of work.


SO much to think about... but for now I have to get back to project valuation and finance. Ever notice how my longest blog entries happen when I have the most to do? A little over a week and I will be in Minneapolis! Hoopefully I will see you all there!